You and your baby have been happily nursing for several months. You have overcome the common problems nursing couples have in the early weeks, such as sore nipples or engorgement, and things are progressing nicely. Suddenly, he begins refusing the breast and seems quite unhappy about it. Is he weaning? Is he sick? Is there something wrong with your milk? …

Candida (also called yeast, or thrush) is a fungus that occurs naturally in the mucous membranes and on the skin. Use of antibiotics promotes the overgrowth of yeast by killing off the ‘good’ bacteria that normally keep the yeast from multiplying too quickly. During pregnancy, yeast infections are more common because high levels of estrogen lead to elevated levels of sugar, …

Nearly all nursing mothers worry at one time or another about whether their babies are getting enough milk. Since we can’t measure breast milk intake the way we can formula intake, it is easy to be insecure about the adequacy of our milk supplies. The “perception” of insufficient breast milk production is the most common reason mothers give for weaning …

Advantages to baby Advantages to mother Advantages to the family Advantages to society   With nearly 79% of women in the United States currently choosing to breastfeed their infants  (as opposed to around 20% in the seventies), it is obvious that the majority of women are aware of the many benefits of breastfeeding. When asked why they chose to nurse …

Some mothers nurse several babies and never experience plugged ducts or mastitis (breast infection), while others have recurrent episodes. There are many reasons for these problems to occur, but treatment is essentially the same: rest, apply heat, breastfeed often on the affected side,  and use antibiotics only when medically necessary. A plugged, or clogged, duct is a sore, tender lump …

  The question “When will my baby start sleeping through the night?” is one that I dread the most. Like most health professionals, I like questions that have easy answers, and this one doesn’t. I do have opinions about how to handle sleep problems, based on my experience with nursing six children, and over 35 years of helping nursing moms. What …

Sore nipples are one of the most common reasons new mothers give for discontinuing breastfeeding, often during the first week of nursing. This is quite unfortunate, for nipple soreness is almost always a short-term problem, and can usually be corrected in a matter of days. Breastfeeding isn’t supposed to hurt, but the fact of the matter is that most mothers …

There are many situations in which a mother may need to pump milk from her breasts. Some are short term – for example, occasional separations; mother on medication incompatible with breastfeeding;  breast engorgement; severe nipple soreness; or increasing milk supply. Some are long term:  a premature or hospitalized infant, or regular separations such as those encountered with returning to work …